William has been the pastry chef atla Cloiserie des Lilas for 6 years, a divine brasserie I hope to visit soon. Previously he worked at Laduree.

We were cloistered in a tiny kitchen sou sol(in the cellar. One doesn't want to imagine summers down there with the hot oven/ fore blasting). Here William and his assistant turned out hundreds of desserts for the daily lunch service + gougere as an amuse bouche for starters. This is ganache de noisette

To go on the tartelette au Graduja noir.

Watching William work close up was daunting. When you bite into a supremely delicious dessert you rarely give a thought to its preparation. The stages it went through to reach such perfection.

I don't think I'll ever eat another dessert lightly again. Pastry chefs are artists of precision in the kitchen.

All senses are at work, not just taste, but color, design, scent of course, even architecture is a consideration.

The multiple layering of flavors is key in French pastry. Mostly you're not aware of the subtlety involved. The finished tartelette au Granduja.

Next up preparation for the Saint-Honore au pamplemousse et baies de goji. Here William cuts the thin leaves of pastry that are the base of this dessert. Or perhaps he's toasting it with his torch or...I lost track and my kitchen French is not up to snuff.

One of Williams tricks and he has many up his sleeve..is to take two flavours of whipped cream (one a special non-acidic Chinoise grapefruit with a touch of goji berries) the other plain cream and put them together into one pastry sleeve.

Out comes a two-sided cream you might not even notice as you're chomping down but the flavours would subltely announce themselves to your tastebuds...

Here a closer view of the two-sided, two-flavoured whipped cream. William was very generous with tastes/goutes in case you're wondering...though there were a number of pots of ganache in the sink I would have loved to have gotten my hands into...

Almost done. The little puffs nesting on top are filled with cream au pamplemousse then dipped lightly into a hot caramel sauce with a touch of pepper (I think..)Desserts change daily FYI.

34 comments:

What an extraordinary opportunity for you to be able see him at work like that. And great for us too. It all looks very delicious. We'll be staying quite close to the restaurant later in the year- I might need to check out his work in person!

I almost got lost in your images, such precision and intricate work shown by chef pâtissier Lamagnere, chapeau! I am intrigued by the two different shades of cream coming out of those pastry bags, wonder of physics in my eyes. I am sure if I tried, they'd start to mingle in unwanted ways.

Precision is the key word.Yet I could see William was having fun throwing powdered sugar on the pastry leaves, painting the gougeres, cutting up the leaves of feuillette almost like paperdolls.Very hands on satisfying work.

You already probably know, but just in case: La Closerie des Lilas is of great historic importance. Hemingway associations, Stein and Toklas lived in the neighborhood, etc.Those pastries are gorgeous enough to be of historic importance too!

How wonderful to have been allowed in the chefs kitchen and being able to follow the process from beginning to end, and the question I'm sure we all want an answer to, were you given a few samples to take home with you ?

Yes I was given many many small samples that added up to a lot.I was mostly looking through a small window - the pastry kitchen is small enough with two people working in it.I think the entire staff at Closerie came down to take a look at me!Many bonjours yesterday morning ahem

OK, this confirms it. This is the best blog there is about life in Paris. One day it's farm animals, the next it's city nights in the rain, the next it's in the basement with a pastry genius. You never know what you're going to get but it's always fun, fabulous, and freaking awesome.

Carol, thank you for the wonderfully sweet adventure. Went to William Lamagnere's blog. Even though it's in French, what a treat for the eyes (and taste buds)!! He's even on YouTube. Magnifique! Merci!Mary

Wow. What a treat, Carol. Grapefruit cream... ganaches, layers - what art and wonderful watching amongst the artists! I love France and French pastry chefs! I need to get to La Cloiserie to taste, you know how to tempt, don't you?